


Deck the Halls

by alessandralee



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 03:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alessandralee/pseuds/alessandralee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grant helps Jemma finish her Christmas decorating, but he's also got a few tricks up his sleeve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deck the Halls

Their flight’s path across the international dateline meant that they would only be getting three hours of Christmas, but Jemma has been determined to make the most of them.

The tree was fake, but Jemma had put together a coating that made the metal branches smell like real pine trees. Skye and Fitz had put together a few strands of string lights that would blink on and off in time with a number of Christmas songs the hacker has downloaded to her laptop. It had worked perfectly in the lab, so now all Jemma had to do what set it up in the lounge. Of course, Skye and Fitz chose that moment to be very busy with important work that couldn’t be delayed.

Which is why Jemma has taken it upon herself to hang the lights on her own. She’d grabbed a small stool from the lab and balanced it on top of the storage unit that stood in front of the massive SHIELD logo that decorated one of the lounge’s walls. The unit was just wide enough for the stool to balance on it, and truth be told, it did wobble a bit. But Jemma had all the decorations planned out in her head, and it was integral that the lights be wrapped around the columns that stood at either end of the shelves. That was all she had left to do before the team took care of the tree together later that night. And she would have had an easy time doing it, if not for her height, or lack thereof.

Luckily for her, Grant Ward walks by and sticks his head into the room before she can risk her safety in the name of a little holiday spirit.

“There’s no way that’s safe,” he remarks dryly from the doorway on the opposite side of the room.

“There is a chance that I could fall and injure myself in various ways, but it’s unlikely enough that I’m willing to take that risk,” she tells him as she climbs to the top of the storage unit.

“And if you do hurt yourself, let’s say by falling backwards and cracking your skull open on that sharp corner, what are the chances of you getting decent medical attention before you bleed out?”

It’s a valid point, as she is the only one on the plane with any significant medical knowledge, but she’s determined to pack all the fun of Christmas into the three hours they’ll be getting and she’s already convinced herself that it won’t happen without lights wrapped around the columns. So she just ignores him and uses her foot to nudge the stool closer to the column on her left.

His arms wrap around her and she’s thrown off of the flat surface and over his shoulder before she can even step onto the precariously balanced stood.

“Absolutely not,” he says to her, and she can tell that he’s smiling, even though the only view she has is of his backside. The fact that it’s a very well formed backside does not go unnoticed by Jemma, not when his pants fit that well.

The momentary distraction isn’t enough to make her forget her ultimate goal, though. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that she can do in her current position. She glares angrily, but he can’t actually see that. She considered kicking him, but that seems too childish.

“Put me down,” she settles for growling at him.

He responds with a laugh. “Not unless you agree to sit back and me take care of this.”

“You could have just said that to begin with.” It’s not like she particularly enjoyed all the climbing and balancing she was prepared to do, she just had a job to get done.

“Yeah, but this is a lot more fun.” She’s not sure what to make of that.

“Not with your shoulder digging into my stomach.” 

It’s not actually doing that, but Jemma’s just realized that Grant has his own interesting view of her ass, hanging just in front of him. It’s enough to make her a little bit panicked and significantly more embarrassed. But if he comments on her flushed face, she can just blame it on all the blood that’s rushed to her head.

When he does put her down, the sudden change in position and the aforementioned blood rushing back down through her body makes her head swim. 

“Thank you,” she tells him once the room stops spinning. Her embarrassment makes her tone sound more annoyed than she intended. He backs away, pretending that she’s hurt his feelings.

“You wait down here. That was the deal.” He gracefully swings himself on top of the console before handing her the stool. “And take this.”

He’s nearly a foot taller than her, and with longer arms to boot, so he doesn’t need the stool. She takes it from his hands and gives him one of the strings of lights. Then she reminds him to make sure they’re evenly spaces.

It takes him a few minutes to get each strand of lights up, and then a few more to get everything arranged to Jemma’s satisfaction.

“Is that everything?” he asks as he leaps to the floor.

“I still need to grab the garland and the ornaments from the lab, but we’re not actually putting them on the tree until everyone’s available. Probably after dinner. But aside from that, everything’s done. We’re all ready for our three hours of Christmas… on a plane… in the middle of the air… in the southern hemisphere… where it is currently summer.”

“First of all, you are really into the Christmas. In fact, I’m sensing a bit of bitterness about us only getting three hours of it. Second, December 25th is still Christmas, even if we’re in the southern hemisphere. And third, why are you storing the ornaments in the lab?”

“I’m not storing them there, that’s where I made them. We didn’t have time to buy any before we left Buenos Aires, so I made my own. They’re bioluminescent algae suspended in water then placed in clear containers. Fitz made some too. They spin.”

Most people would be a bit put off by the thought of putting algae on their Christmas tree, but Grant has learned to take things like this in stride. At least she wasn’t storing them in the fridge.

“Alright, I guess I’ll help you bring them up here.”

She heads for the lab, but Grant stops her once she reaches the doorway.

“Jemma, hold on a minute. Just stand right there.” He doesn’t usually call her by her given name, and his directions are a bit odd, but she listens anyway.

He crosses the room to where she’s standing, grinning from ear to ear. She’s not sure exactly what’s going on, but she figures he’s going to make some snarky joke about her Christmas obsession or algae ornaments. But he doesn’t.

Instead he just points upwards, right above her head. Jemma follows his gaze to a small green plant hanging from the top of the doorway. It wasn’t there when she dragged the stool up from the lab, so he must have put it there himself.

“Mistletoe.” His grin widens even further and he steps closer to her as he says it.

It looks like Jemma isn’t the only one with a little Christmas spirit.


End file.
